Whenever I try to take medication in extended-release tablet form, I find the pill stuck in my catheter. Today it was Wellbutrin but I’ve even had issues with Tylenol. I tried taking it after eating hoping the food would slow down the pill long enough for it to dissolve and absorb. No luck.
Anyone else have the same experience? Any suggestions?
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i've had the same problem with some slow release meds, such as iron pills, but not with tylenol nor with any capsule form meds. have you tried the liquid gel form of tylenol? does wellbutrin com in a cap form?
a possible alternative--have not tried this or know for certain--is to get a medication compounded. not sure if insurance will cover the extra expense. keep us posted as this is a problem we all face and thanks for bringing it up. jan
Regular and liquid Tylenol work fine. The extended-release capsules show up in my catheter. Wellbutrin comes in a regular release form but I’ll have to take it twice a day - which we were trying to avoid. My doctor prescribed a higher dose because I was worried that this would happen. I’m waiting to hear what she wants me to do. I used to find pills in my ostomy pouch when I had a loop ileo.
I recently started trying edible medical marijuana to replace the ketamine infusions I was getting for pain management. I experienced a similar issue with malabsorption. It took higher doses and about 6 hours for me to feel any affects. So that didn’t work either.
Just another accommodation I’ll need to learn...
I used to find what I thought were pills in my ostomy bag but, at the doctor's suggestion, I pulled a few out and they 'popped'. What appeared to be a pill was in fact just the 'skin' of the digested pill. Maybe examine it and hopefully it is the case?
I take baby aspirin and every once in awhile I would find the baby aspirin stuck in the catheter. There was one time something got stuck in the catheter and at first I thought it was a partially digested vitamin pill but I was able to examine it once I got it out of the catheter and I think it was mucus (I have wicked post nasal drip) but Neither has happened in quite awhile. Good luck.
I'm surprised that this question comes up, I was told by my doctor at the beginning that most slow release tablets won't fully dissolve. I know my transit time with food is well under 6 hours, so a 12 hour release tablet would only be half way done...
To end this, I never buy slow release tablets. Good luck
I started taking an anticonvulsive in time-release format in the early '90s...we couldn't figure out why they were not working...until I found myself unconscious for 4 days...they were sitting in my pouch for weeks and suddenly dissolved (probably when I ate something very acidic like pineapple) all at once...
Since then I take nothing, absolutely nothing in time-release formulas...even my B-complex vitamins are now off of the list...they just do not dissolve.
Sharon
My pharmacy knows not to even fill caplets, hard coated tablets or time release medications. My doctors know not to prescribe them too. There just is not enough time for them to break down before getting stuck in the catheter. My pain medication is an oral film that dissolves inside my mouth. It works much better than pills. And I use a nasal spray called Nascabol that is vitamin B complex. Before I started using that I was always so tired.
I use a patch for my Garcinia and B6
@PouchLogic posted:I'm surprised that this question comes up, I was told by my doctor at the beginning that most slow release tablets won't fully dissolve. I know my transit time with food is well under 6 hours, so a 12 hour release tablet would only be half way done...
To end this, I never buy slow release tablets. Good luck
I actually learned about that today! I go 13-20x a day so I would be in trouble XD
Thank-you for posting that! That is definitely important for colectomy people to know 
